15 August 2010

Stefanie Reid (coach: Dan Pfaff) improved her own F44 long jump World Record with a mark of 5.09m (+0.8m/s) in today’s London Disability Athletics Challenge at Crystal Palace – the third and final round of the 2010 UKA Disability Athletics Challenge.

In periodically windy conditions, Reid, who recorded 5.05m to erase the previous best of 5.04m by Marie Amelie Le Fur (France) in the recent McCain JumpsFest, was once again impressive with a consistent series of jumps predominantly in excess of 5.00m.

Having surpassed her week old lifetime best with a 5.06m effort in round one, she went on to record a solid 5.05m in round two before delivering her well executed World Record jump in the third round, a mark which was testament to the hard work both she and her coach Dan Pfaff have put in over the past seven months from her training base at UKA’s National Performance Centre at Lee Valley.

“I really want to attribute everything to Dan (Pfaff) and the rest of my team, I feel like they’ve totally re-worked my whole philosophy,” said Reid who won Paralympic Games 200m bronze in Beijing.

“I’ve always been a really hard worker but they’ve taught me how to work a lot smarter. I feel like I’ve finally crossed that line between intermediate and elite, especially with the consistency. In the past I’ve wasted so many great jumps with fouls and it was a simple correction which we’ve worked on. I’m so thrilled to have the team that I do. When I go out now I really want to do justice to the training I’ve had from them and put into action what they’ve taught me – I don’t want it to go to waste.”

“Before I used to go out to compete and I didn’t know if I’d be good or bad and I didn’t know how to make it good or bad,” she continued, “but now I’ve got the tools and I know I can go out there and compete well. It’s made competing and training more fun and I feel like we’re building constantly. We’re not near the final product yet but we’re on the way.”

Reid, who has British parents, has always maintained that her decision to compete for Great Britain and Northern Ireland was based on the quality of the performance programme delivered in this country. Her working relationship with coach Pfaff has added to that support structure and has been integral to her progress in the long jump in particular.

“In the past Steph has been more about volume and long runs, components that I felt weren’t compatible with running fast and jumping far,” said Pfaff. “We’ve changed how she looks running down the runway in terms of acceleration, posture and how to set up the jump a little more. She had to work on her body parts in the air once she took off to ensure she could have a safer and more efficient landing. I think her previous concept of that was limiting her running to the board because she didn’t know what to do in the air. Now that she knows how to set up in the air and land correctly she’s a little more wreckless and long jumping is controlled aggression; it’s s a fine line with being out of control but you don’t want to be too safe either and I think she’s found that balance now.”

Moving from one athlete who has been going from strength to strength in recent months to another who has been out of action for the best part of a year, Nathan Stephens (coach: Anthony Young) made a welcome return to action with personal best and IPC World Championships ‘A’ standard in the F57 javelin (38.62m); it was only his second competition in eleven months following a shoulder operation in March.

Other notable performances across the day included a trio of victories from Jade Jones (coach: Ian Thompson/Tanni Grey-Thompson) in the T54 200m (33.03, +1.2m/s),  800m (2:13.77) and 1500m (4:29.42), and sprint doubles from Katrina Hart (coach: Rob Ellchuk) and Libby Clegg (coach: Tom Crick) in the T37 100m (14.41, +2.5m/s) and 200m (30.70, +2.4m/s) and T12 100m (12.71, +2.0m/s) and 200m (26.31, +4.0m/s) respectively.

Mickey Bushell (coach: Fred Periac), only marginally outside his 14.47 World Record, continued his great run of form with a quick 14.71 (+0.8m/s) – his quickest ever clocking on the Crystal Palace track – to take the men’s T53 100m. He was pushed all the way by David Weir (coach: Jenny Archer) who later went on to take the T54 1500m win in a tactically sound 3:22.58 in one of the highest quality line ups of the day.

Also worth noting was the performance of newcomer Joe Allen (coach: Martin Rush) who won the men’s T46 800m in 2:08.23; it was only his second ever track race following his attendance at a classification event in Cardiff earlier this summer.

“I’ve only just come into it after 12 years of running cross country and I’m really enjoying the competition,” said the experienced cross country runner who was recently selected to represent the Aviva Great Britain and Northern Ireland team at the IWAS World Junior Championships later this month. “This is only my second competition on the track. I ran 2.14 and I’ve since run 2.07 so it’s not been bad today, but I’ve never run in a big venue like this and it’s been a bit overwhelming, but I enjoyed it. I felt tight at the start but I had a lot left at the finish and I think I’ve got a lot more to come, hopefully at the Worlds.”

Finally, the women’s T37 4 x 100m relay team set an unconfirmed World Record with a mark of 59.78 in last event of the day. The time was inconsequential however as they enjoyed the success of passing the baton around cleanly in one of their first competitive outings as a quartet.